Saturday, October 21, 2017

Memphis, Mo
– For seven years, it was one of the most popular year-end racing events in the
Midwest. The Mid-America Nationals, held at the Scotland County Fairgrounds in
Memphis, Mo., lured drivers and race fans from all over.

The first
annual Mid-America ¼-Mile Nationals took place on September 17 and 18, 1976,
offering a $6,500 purse. New Models, Sportsman and Hobby Stocks competed in
heat races on Friday with semi-mains and championship features on Saturday
night’s card.

Three
out-of-staters would take home championship hardware.

The Late Models
would time trial and a familiar racing name, Russ Derr of Keokuk, Iowa, was the
fastest around the track with an 18.04 second timing.

Dave Lindsay
would grab the lead at the drop of the green of the Hobby Stock feature and
never look back in winning the 15-lapper. Kay Pierce would take second while
Tom Long of Payson, Ill., would finish third. Lyle Chancellor of Keokuk and
Earl Pruitt of Marshalltown, Iowa, would round out the top five finishers.

The 25-lap Sportsman
main event would see Larry Larson follow suit and lead from start to finish as
well, holding off a stubborn Steve Becker to score the victory. Bob Marriott of
Chillicothe, Mo., finished a strong third, followed by Mike Inman of Keokuk and
Dan Lake.

The Late Model
headliner saw Russ Derr, who started on the pole by virtue of his quick time,
jump out front quickly and lead all 35 circuits in securing the win. Larry
Pipes would slip by Lem Blankenship early in the contest and put pressure on
Derr for the remainder of the race but “Pee Vine” would settle for runner-up
honors. Blankenship would finish third followed closely by Jim Gerber and Steve
Keppler fifth.

With 90 cars
in attendance and fans filling the seats, the first annual Mid-America ¼-Mile
Nationals was hailed a success and plans were being made for next year.

The second
annual Mid-America ¼-Mile Nationals would take two weekends to complete. Originally
slated for September 16 and 17, 1977, over 100 cars would compete in Friday’s
qualifying heats, only to have early morning thunderstorms wipe out Saturday’s
festivities. Officials postpone the semi-main and championships until the
following Saturday, September 24.

A week
later, semi-main and championship features were run. Jack Evans of Keokuk
(Hobby Stock), George Koontz of Memphis, Mo. (Sportsman) and Jim Gerber of
LeClaire, Iowa (Late Model) started the evening off by winning their respective
semi-mains.

Joe
Churchill would make his long trip from Peosta, Iowa, pay off when the checkers
flew in the Sportsman feature. Churchill would divide his time among three positions
en route to the feature win. He spent the first 10 laps in third place, the
second 12 circuits in second place and then made his move on lap 22, slipping
past Kenny Fenn for the lead and the eventual win. Charlie Milligan of Keokuk
tailed Churchill throughout the race and finished second followed by George
Koontz of Memphis, Sonny Findling and Bob Findling of Kirksville, Mo.

Marshalltown,
Iowa, pilot Dennis Stewart took the lead on lap 14 to capture the Hobby Stock
title. Chopper Safely towed from Waubeek, Iowa, to finish a close second, just
ahead of Terry Lyons of Virginia, Ill. Early leader Jim Powell took fourth and
Rich McClure grabbed fifth.

In the Late
Model main event, Johnny Babb, no stranger to the Memphis track, jumped into
the lead from his pole position and put on a driving clinic, leading all 40
laps to take the win. Larry Pipes would apply pressure throughout the race
until his engine let go with 12 laps left. Waterloo, Iowa’s Joe Schaefer, who
started near the rear of the 22-car field, would work his way steadily through
the pack and finish second. John Miller of Keokuk, Jerry Pilcher of Bloomfield,
Iowa, and Bob Widmar of Ottumwa, Iowa, would round out the top five.

Once again,
wet weather would come into play, this time for the third annual Mid-America
¼-Mile Nationals, September 15-17, 1978. Friday’s qualifying heats went
uninterrupted but rain midway through Saturday’s program would push features to
Sunday afternoon.

Pokey West
of West Chester, Iowa, was anything but slow over the weekend, winning his heat
and taking home the top prize in the Late Model feature on Sunday afternoon.
West started third in the main event and was running third behind early leader
Mike Benjamin and Larry Pipes for the first 16 laps. After a restart, West
passed Pipes for second and three laps later, slipped past Benjamin for the
lead. West was in command when heavy skies let go and rain stopped the race on
lap 37, which officials declared complete. Steve Fraise of Montrose, Iowa, who
started 12th, made a spirited drive through the pack to overtake Benjamin for
second place on lap 28 and finished a strong second. Pipes settled for third
place, Jerry Pilcher, who started 18th, took fourth and Joe Churchill of
Peosta, Iowa, who won the Sportsman title the year before, grabbed fifth.

Late Model
heat wins went to Pipes, Benjamin, West and Jim Brown of Ottumwa, Iowa. Bill
Early of Edina, Mo., won the rain-shortened semi-main on Saturday.

Kenny Fenn
of Washington, Iowa, took the lead on lap 4 and roared to the Sportsman
championship. Mike Inman of Keokuk took second while Dick Crane of Palmyra,
Mo., ran third. Bob Marriott of Chillicothe, Mo., finished fourth and Leonard
Hamlin of LaPlata, Mo., took fifth.

Hamlin,
George Koontz of Memphis, Gary Tigges of Dubuque, Iowa, Fenn and Inman were
heat winners. Larry Asher of Kirksville, Mo., won the rain-interrupted
semi-main.

The Hobby
Stock feature, after being rained out Saturday night, would be washed out again
on Sunday, so the finish was given according to the line-up. Rod Uppinghouse of
Payson, Ill., winner of the first heat, was awarded the win. Heat #2 winner Bob
Hawks of Virginia, Ill., was second, heat #3 winner Jim Powell of New London,
Iowa, third, heat #4 winner Rich McClure of Cincinnati, Iowa, fourth and
defending champion Dennis Stewart of Marshalltown, Iowa, was fifth. Norwalk,
Iowa, driver Rex Bonnett won the 8-lap semi-main.

The fourth
annual event, held September 14-15, 1979, would bring a slight name change to
the race. The ¼-Mile Nationals had now become the ½-Mile Nationals.

After
extensive research, I found no reason given for the name change, except for the
fact, according to Allan Brown’s America’s
Speedways, Scotland CountySpeedway
had always been half-mile track since 1950 until 1999 when it was shortened to
its present size of a 3/8-mile.

Dan Nesteby
of Waterloo, Iowa, would tow nearly 200 miles and it would pay off handsomely
as he won the 40-lap Late Model headliner. Nesteby and defending winner Johnny
Babb dueled early on in the race until Ron Jackson of Burlington, Iowa, got
involved into the mix. Jackson would get past Babb and the battle between
Nesteby and Jackson was on. The two would swap the lead several times until
Jackson grabbed the lead on lap 38. Jackson could practically taste victory
until a careless spinout on the backstretch let Nesteby slip by for the lead
and the win. Jackson would recover to finish second while Babb hung on to
third. Bob McCall of Ottumwa, Iowa, took fourth and inaugural winner Russ Derr
finished fifth.

Jerry
Pilcher, Nesteby, Babb, Jackson and Paul Carr of Ottumwa, Iowa, were heat
winners while Randy Harrison of Memphis, took the 15-lap semi-main.

In a near-photo
finish, Fred Knapp of Des Moines, Iowa, came out on top in the 25-lap Sportsman
feature. Knapp had passed Jack Dunn of Keokuk for the lead on lap 11, only to
exit the race with mechanical issues during a lap 14 caution period.

However, Knapp
re-entered the race at the rear of the field as the green flag waved and
started making his way through the pack. Meanwhile, George Koontz of Memphis
had started to challenge Dunn for the race lead. By lap 20, Knapp had made his
way back up front to make it a three-car battle. Knapp would get by Koontz for
second, but as the white flag waved, Dunn, Knapp and Koontz were virtually
side-by-side. As the trio reached the backstretch, Knapp edged ahead of Dunn
and Koontz and as they came out of turn four, Knapp was slightly ahead of Dunn
as they could see the checkered flag waving. Knapp would beat Dunn by less than
a foot at the finish line with Koontz right on their bumper. Sonny Kindling of
Kirksville, Mo., would finish fourth followed by Mike Klinkhammer of West
Branch, Iowa.

Heat winners
in the Sportsman class were Dunn, Kenny Fenn, Knapp, and Corrie Stott of
Keokuk. Carl Storms of Montrose, Iowa, won the semi-main.

The Hobby
Stock would be anti-climactic as Darrel DeFrance of Marshalltown, Iowa, was an
easy winner, leading all 15 circuits. Challenging hard but not changing
positions were Earl Pruitt of Marshalltown, Dino Rodish of West Des Moines,
Smoke Wilson of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Steve McCartney of Kirksville, Mo.

Hobby Stock
heat winners were DeFrance, Pruitt, Rodish, and Wilson, while Rick McClure of
Cincinnati, Iowa, won the semi-main.

The fifth
annual Mid-America ½-Mile Nationals saw two new winners and one repeat
performance on September 19-20, 1980. Ron Jackson of Burlington, Iowa (Late
Models) and Chopper Safely of Marion, Iowa, won titles at Memphis for the first
time while Kenny Fenn of Washington, Iowa, scored his second Sportman
championship.

Jackson,
driving his #11 Camaro, started on the pole position via his heat win and
jumped into the lead at the drop of Chuck Downing’s green flag and never let
off the gas pedal, leading all 40 laps. Jackson was so dominant, in fact, he
lapped nearly the entire field, except for second through fifth place. Chasing
Jackson every lap of the way and finishing runner-up was Johnny Johnson of Morning
Sun, Iowa. Tony Stewart of Washington, Iowa, last year’s winner Dan Nesteby of
Waterloo, Iowa and Jim Brown of Ottumwa, Iowa, rounded out the finishers still
on the lead lap.

The
Sportsman main event saw two Iowa drivers fighting it out for the win. Kenny
Fenn grabbed the lead at the onset but Jim Hollenbeck of Burlington, Iowa, tried
his best to keep up with the wily veteran. Despite several caution flags that
bunched up the field, Fenn had too much horses under the hood and pulled away
every time on his way to the 30-lap victory. Hollenbeck would hang on for
second, followed by semi-main winner Ronnie Armstrong of Kahoka, Mo., Lynn
Richards of Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, and Keith Allen of Donnellson, Iowa.

Chopper
Safely would win the Hobby Stock feature rather handily, leading all 20 laps,
although Henry DeLonjay of Quincy, Ill., kept it close in taking second. Dale
DeFrance of Marshalltown, Iowa, was third, Daryl O’Haver of Kirksville, Mo.,
grabbed fourth and Russ Hamilton of Eldon, Iowa, rounded out the top five.

Over 90 cars
from five states took to the Scotland County Fairgrounds’ half-mile for the
sixth annual Mid-America ½-Mile Nationals on September 18-19, 1981, and Iowans
took home hardware in all four divisions.

An intense
duel in the Saturday night Late Model finale saw Rocky Hodges of Des Moines and
Andy Claiborne of Shawnee Mission, Kan., battle throughout the 25-lapper. By
lap 8, both drivers were lapping slower cars in the 18-car field. A lap 15
caution cooled the two hot shoes only momentarily, as when Gene Holt’s
green flag waved again, Claiborne shot to the lead with Hodges hot on his tail.
On lap 21, Hodges would power by Claiborne for the lead and despite some
bumping and banging, would hold on for the win. A disappointed Claiborne would
settle for second. Jerry Pilcher of Bloomfield, Iowa, would sneak by David
Hammond of Camanche, Iowa, on lap 19 for third-place honors. Hammond and Sonny
Findling would round out the top five.

Late Model
heat winners were Hammond, Claiborne and Hodges. Mike Klinkhammer of West
Branch, Iowa, won the 15-lap semi-main.

Darrel
DeFrance made the long haul from Marshalltown, Iowa, worthwhile, as he captured
his heat and the 20-lap Sportsman main. DeFrance grabbed the lead from Tim
Swope of Waterloo, Iowa, on lap 4 and continued to pull away for the win. Denny
Banks of Washington, Iowa, would get past Swope to take second while Swope
settled for third. Dick Crane of Palmyra, Ill., and Bruce Hanford of Davenport,
Iowa, took fifth.

Friday night
Sportsman heat winners were DeFrance, Banks, Swope, and Crane. George Koontz of
Memphis won the semi-main.

Rick Gustin
of Des Moines led flag to flag in the Hobby Stock finale. Steve McCartney of
Kirksville, Mo., passed Larry DeFrance of Albion, Iowa, midway through the
15-lapper to claim second while DeFrance held on for third. A pair of Quincy,
Ill., drivers, Henry DeLonjay and Rich DeWeese, finished fourth and fifth
respectively.

DeWeese,
Gustin, and DeFrance were Friday night heat winners and Dean Franks of LaBelle,
Mo., was the semi-main winner.

A fourth
division was added to the Mid-America Nationals with Compact Modifieds also on
the card. Wendell Folkerts of Albia, Iowa, dominated the class, steering his
AMC Gremlin to an easy feature win.

The seventh
annual Mid-America ½-Mile Nationals would see three new winners in victory lane
as once again, rain shifted the program towards an extra day of competition.

Two inches
of rain on Friday evening postponed preliminary heat races to Saturday night
and Sunday afternoon featured championship main events. Despite that, the event
drew over 75 cars from four states.

Hobby Stocks
took to the track first on Saturday and heat winners were Henry DeLonjay of
Quincy, Ill., Charley Baker of LaBelle, Mo., and Randy Uppinghouse of Payson,
Ill.

Andy
Claiborne of Shawnee Mission, Kan., would come from his last row starting
position to claim the first Late Model heat and hometown driver Lynn Monroe
roared home to victory in the second. In the third late model heat, Ron
Pallister of Wapello, Iowa, put his Corvette into victory lane.

Dick Crane
of Palmyra, Ill., won the first Sportsman heat race while Tim Swope of Elk Run
Heights, Iowa and Jeff Aikey of Cedar Falls, Iowa, scored wins in the second
and third heats respectively.

After a
see-saw battle to begin the Hobby Stock feature, Randy Uppinghouse would
finally get by Danny Bowen of Hurdland, Mo., on lap 13 and go on to claim the
top prize in that division. Bowen would hang on for second while John Crear of
Middleton, Iowa, would grab third. Rod Smith of Monmouth, Ill., was fourth and
Bruce McCartney of Kirksville, Mo., was fifth.

After
numerous years of running successfully at the ½-Mile Nationals but no trophy to
show for it, Dick Crane left no doubt that the 15-lap Sportsman championship
feature was his for the taking. Crane led wire-to-wire in a dominating
performance. Tim Swope would give chase but settle for second while Tom Long of
Payson, Ill., finished third. Jim Hollenbeck came from the rear of the field to
grab fourth and Lonnie Heap of Macomb, Ill., took fifth.

Ron
Pallister would take home the lion’s share of the Late Model purse by capturing
the 40-lap feature. Pallister, who started inside of the second row, battled
Lynn Monroe early on for the top spot before finally securing the lead and
sailing to victory. Bob Lekander of Burlington, Iowa, would get by Monroe and
take runner-up honors. Bill Beuer of Wapello, Iowa, would also get by Monroe as
the laps were winding down and finish third. Monroe would hold on to fourth
place while Darrel DeFrance of Marshalltown, Iowa, rounded out the top five.

Mike Whaley
of Carlisle, Iowa, put his AMC Gremlin out front on the first lap of the
Compact Modifie feature and never looked back in winning handily. Terry
Peterson of Agency, Iowa, was second and defending winner Tim Folkerts of
Albia, Iowa, was third.

Information
and results were hard to obtain for the eighth and final Mid-America ½-Mile
Nationals, held on September 16-17, 1982. While no recap was found, Ida May Van
Genderen, who penned a column for Hawkeye
Racing News named “Racing Ramblings” reported that 75 cars were entered in
three divisions of racing.

Ida May
reported that Friday night was definitely a “heavy coat” night while Saturday
evening was a “shirt sleeve” type of evening. She also reported that the
program moved along quite well on both nights and drivers obeyed starter George
Koontz’s flags.

In 2004,
Scotland County Speedway, under the direction of promoter Todd Staley, revived
the event, dubbing it "The Mid-America Nationals”, featuring the United States
Modified Touring Series and USRA B-Modifieds, Stock Cars and Hobby Stocks.

Friday, October 6, 2017

Sterling,
Ill. (October 6, 1968) – Verlin Eaker of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, set fast time in
qualifying at the sixth annual Sterling Midwest Invitational, then went on to
win the 100-lap feature running the last 25 laps on a flat tire.

The safety
inner boot, used on many race cars today, prevented Eaker’s tire from going
completely flat and permitted him to pull away in the closing laps of the
marathon race.

Eaker led
all but one of the 100 laps when Don Bohlander of Glasford, Ill., briefly led
one circuit. He collected $1,000 for his victory.

USAC star Herb
Shannon of Peoria, Ill., finished second while Bohlander took third. Jim Gerber
of Long Grove, Iowa, finished fourth, the last competitor to complete the
entire 100-lap distance. Only 18 of the original 30 starters finished the event
that was run without a single caution flag being thrown.

Young Lem
Blankenship of Keokuk, Iowa, came from his 28th starting position to grab fifth
place in an outstanding display of driving on the dry, slick clay oval. Bill
McDonough of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, was equally impressive as he moved from his
26th starting spot to finish sixth.

A total of
66 cars were entered for the Speedbowl Park season finale with 16 drivers
timing in under the 19-second mark on the third-mile oval.

Don Davidson
of Des Moines won the 30-lap semi-main while B.J. Higley of Sterling, Ill., won
the 20-lap consolation.

It was
perhaps the wildest of the eleven previous Dri-Power 400 events staged at the
half-mile asphalt speedway.

Although
Senneker finished seven laps ahead of runner-up Ray Young of Dolton, Ill., Senneker
was in third place with just eight laps left remaining – behind race leader
Mike Eddy and second place Mark Martin. However, as the pair entered the first
turn on lap 393, Martin was on the inside, but drifted up into the side of
Eddy, sending both into the wall between turns one and two, sidelining both
cars.

That allowed
Senneker to coast home to an easy win with Young completing 393 circuits for
second. Eddy was third and Martin fourth with 392 laps completed.

Stallsworth
inherited the lead from Bud Helm of Brainerd, Minn., on lap 141 when Helm’s car
developed an ignition problem. Helm had been the dominant car up to that point,
with a 2-lap lead over his nearest competitor.

Stallsworth
would lead the remaining 59 circuits and win by a couple of car lengths over
Don James of Bloomington, Minn. Ramo Stott of Keokuk, Iowa, the defending race
winner, would claim the final podium spot with a third-place finish.

The outcome
of the race may have been very different if many things hadn’t happened…

Joe Shear,
the Rockford point’s champion from Beloit, Wis., pushed Helm for the first 110
laps of the event before he dropped from the race with a broken fuel pump.

Both Stott
and Dick Stang of Prior Lake, Minn., spun out early in the race only to recover
and finish third and fifth respectively. Bob Jusola, the Elko, Minn., champion,
blew a motor as he began moving his way to the front to challenge the leaders.
Marlin Walbeck, the 1967 champion, crashed when he spun out in the oil that
spewed from Jusola’s car.

Jon Chrest
of Minneapolis set the event’s fast time at 14.58 seconds but the youthful
driver had trouble in the feature when his drive shaft gave out on lap 20.

Monday, October 2, 2017

Dayton,
Ohio (October 2, 1966) – Iggy Katona, looking as trim and dapper as the Dayton
Speedway landscape, leisurely whipped a field of 16 late models stock cars in
the 100-lap ARCA-sanctioned feature that marked the debut of a new regimen at
the west side track.

Driving
a 1965 Dodge, Katona crossed the finish line just three seconds ahead of a 1964
Ford wheeled by Elmer Davis with a crowd of 3,000 watching.

But
Iggy had the race won before it even started. That was when Les Snow, the
co-favorite in the race, heard strange noise coming from under the hood of his
’65 Dodge.

First
place money ($400) wouldn’t have bought Les a new engine, so the chubby
mechanic chose not to take chance on irritating the power plant with a berserk
connecting rod.

Snow
had been the day’s fast qualifier with a lap of 20.09 seconds. This 96 mile per
hour trip around the high banks wasn’t far off the track record, proving that
the recent asphalt patching job had done some good.

It
also established Snow as the favorite, a role he would soon yield to Katona
when the engine went sour.

Katona,
who packs 200 pounds on his 5’ 9” frame, was chased frantically by 1964 Ford’s
driven by Davis and another leadfoot from the Ohio country, Bobby Watson. Those
three ran away from the other 14 cars in the field.

On
lap 47, Watson left his right door on the guardrail in turn four, giving race
fans a great view of the inside of his car. But Bobby kept going despite the
invasion of privacy.

All
three cars lapped fourth place Keith Ploughe’s 1964 Ford on lap 49. Content
just to stay in front, Katona nearly lost the lead at the three-quarter mark as
a few slower cars blocked his path.

Iggy
pressed a little harder on the accelerator and managed to get through
unscathed. Davis stayed close but Watson, probably tiring from fighting the
wind buffeting through his car, fell back. On the last few orbits, Iggy pressed
it a little harder and Davis’ Ford couldn’t keep up.

There
were just nine cars running at the end, wrecks and popping tires having taken
their toll.

“I
cold have run all day,” Katona admitted afterwards. “If Les Snow had been out
there, you would have seen a different race.” Snow and Katona have won 14 out
of the last 15 ARCA races.

Hansen, who
started on the pole, took the lead at the drop of the green flag and led for
the first 78 circuits before relinquishing the top spot to Ed Sanger of
Waterloo, Iowa. The two would make a race of it from there on, racing
side-by-side numerous laps. It was midway thru turns three and four of the last
lap that Hansen pulled to the outside of Sanger and powered past him for a half
a car length victory.

Hansen
received $1,200 for the win plus $310 in lap money for leading 78 laps. Sanger
would pick up the remainder of the lap money giving the Hawkeyes all 100 laps.

Bob Kosiski
of Omaha placed third for the only Cornhusker finish in the top five. Kosiski
was one lap off the winner’s pace while fourth and fifth places were four laps
down. Joe Merryfield of Des Moines was fourth and Bob Shryock of Estherville,
Iowa, placed fifth.

Second place
seemed to be the hard luck spot in the field as Don Hoffman of Des Moines blew
an engine while running second. Then on lap 22, Bob Shryock was black flagged
for a trunk lid falling off while running second.

Dick
Schilitz of Waterloo, Iowa, inherited second place only to have his battery
cable come loose after 11 laps. Don Styskal of Fremont, Neb., moved into the
number two spot until lap 62 when he exited with mechanical issue. Sanger moved
into second at that point and went on to finish there.

The feature
was started and stopped after one lap because of dust. The track was watered
and thee race was completely restarted.

Nebraska did
come through for two wins during the afternoon show with Kent Tucker of Aurora,
Neb., winning the fourth heat and Jim Van Wormer, also of Aurora, winning the
second consolation.

Other wins
went to Hansen, Hoffman and Sanger while Denny Hovinga of Laurens, Iowa, won
the first consolation.

Preserving the history of Midwest Auto Racing

So much racing history has been made through the years right here in the Midwest.

From the rich dirt ovals in Illinois, Iowa, Missouri and Nebraska to the paved short tracks in Minnesota and Wisconsin, some of the best drivers ever to get behind the wheel of a race car competed right here in the heartland.

We all have our own story to share about our favorite driver who thrilled us everytime they rolled onto the track or that one particular race that still stands out as the greatest they ever saw.

We'll go back in history, 10, 20, 30, 40, even 50 years ago (even more) and reminisce about what has made racing in the Midwest so special for us.